38)

My only three adventures made another dungeon run after lunch. I had taken to keeping Iris's refrigerator filled with fresh vegetables, which Molly had added a greater variety to. The boy seemed happy with the dungeon meat sliced thin, then fried in a pan on the stove top.

Even after downing several portions, he still finished off the last of the salad as well. Iris gave him a suspicious look. "If you eat that much it will slow you down, I already told you that you can take some home."

Ernie froze up for a second. "It's best if I don't bring things home. The foster parents never like my answers when they have questions."

Molly looked confused and started to speak but Iris nodded and cut her off. "I'll leave the shed unlocked after you leave. Drop off anything you go and buy with Tark's money and I'll give you the key to the padlock tomorrow."

Their second expedition went much the same but when the kobolds began to emerge from their spawn point all three of the group began throwing half bricks. With Iris and Ernie getting in two volleys and Molly a third.

No knife and any other special loot this time. Despite Molly fetching some other items from her large bag to drag along.

The healer stuck around until the boy left. Before he did so he had to sit around in the basement with only a towel to wear while watching a television until his clothing was washed and dried.

Then after the other two left the old woman stretched out on her bed and fell asleep. Finally I could get back to work.

I figured the current rooms in the dungeon could keep them busy through the week. So instead I began building my evolution rooms.

The rooms looked like woven balls filled with a blueish gray ooze. When I stuck a squirrel in one and invested the magic, it sealed up and I was given a three day countdown.

Since the resources didn't take much to build them. I built three more, one with a raccoon, one with a kobold, and the last with a spider. Spiders are cool, even if an evolved one is still weak, I can find a use for them.

With plenty of time left that night. I pulled in the wall of the big battle room to allow access in the next room to a tunnel that led to a set of stairs under the original one that would lead to a lower floor. This left me with a quarter of pie shaped leftover room that I wasn't sure what else to do with.

But considering it was the last room of the level, I decided to make it a safe room with a copy of Iris’s basement couch and two of her nicer upstairs chairs.

The downstairs was of course the boss chamber.

The boy appeared late that night with a large canvas bag that he set down in Iris's shed and then gave the lock a long look before closing it and heading off for the night.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The next day he waited for Molly to show up before following her up to the house and asking for the key to the shed.

Carrying his bag in he mentioned to Iris, “I’m going to change downstairs if that’s all right.” She gave him a nod.

The boy had bought a set of high, used looking boots. Hard knee pads. A padded breast and back covering with shoulder pads. Thick elbow length gloves that he used a folding knife to remove some interior padding from. And lastly an open faced helmet with a grill over his jaws that he put on over a set of clear lenses set into a closely fitted clear frame that strapped over his eyes.

He also started the whole thing off with a trip into the tiny basement bathroom to pull on a set of underwear with a hard fitted protective device for his male parts.

None of this looked like real armor, and it all had some flaws, but it was far better than nothing.

Molly covered her mouth when she came down, but Iris looked him up and down with a serious expression. "I would have gone with kick boxer headgear instead of the football helmet. But the helmet was probably cheaper. Where did you get the gloves?"

The boy held up his hands. "Welder gloves, they were longer than anything else I could find."

The old woman nodded and off they went.

As before they pelted the kobold with half bricks again before the lizards could get into place. Then they came around the corner and saw that the "Under construction door" was now open.

Molly spoke up first. “I guess Tark was busy last night.”

They walked up to the open door cautiously, with Ernie grabbing the cardboard loot box and dragging it back so they could grab their rewards far away from the new room.

After a quick debate, the boy went into the room first and began vigorously poking the couch and chairs with his club. Then half turned and shrugged. "I think it's just furniture?"

The other two drifted in with first Iris, then Molly sitting down. Iris huffed. "It's not too bad to have a seat after a fight, and my couch is a far better seat than those cement benches."

After their rest, they slowly made their way down the steps.

The room down below consisted of the stairs opening up into a room twenty feet around, with a three foot wide walkway going around a four foot wide pit. The pit went down ten feet to water with the same old built in ladder. But in the middle of the pit was a three foot wide pillar going up fifteen feet to the unseen core.

Then looked around a bit and began to get antsy with nothing else in sight.

Then Kelvin walked around from the other end of the platform where he had been out of sight behind the pillar.

He had three wooden spoon handles with Molly's scalpels taped to them and a streamer of cloth tied to the other ends. A saucepan lid for a shield, and a kitchen knife in a cardboard and tape sheath at his waist.

With a jerk of his head, he reversed his grip on his spear and threw it right into the boy's thigh.

He had been practicing for days.

The boy yelled, "I thought he wasn't supposed to attack us!" And pulled the spear from his leg as Iris yelled about that was only outside of the dungeon, and Molly told him, too late, not to pull the spear out since it was stopping the bleeding.

Ernie began running around the catwalk as Kelvin run the other way. He transferred another spear from his shield hand to his throwing hand as he ran. Coming around the pillar he threw it at Molly.

Fortunately for her, he wasn't as good at throwing while he was running. The tumbling spear caught her on her hastily thrown up arm just before it could catch her in the face with the shaft.

Iris managed to work her way around the distracted healer. But by the time she got around, Kelvin was charging at her with his last spear. This time with his weapon held for poking rather than throwing.

As the old woman reared back her leg and then let out a kick, the kobold champion threw himself back and then charged into Iris's legs. Screaming as he ran past her just before Ernesto had caught up with him.

Now shielded by the Martial artist between her and Molly, he began stabbing upwards at both of them. Inflicting several shallow stab wounds before Molly backed up enough that he could only attack one at a time. He still kept in close to the old woman, too close for her to get in a good kick or for Molly to swing her racket.

Finally, Iris sighed and took a step forward. With a yell of "Get him!" She took the ten foot plunge down into the water below.

This time I had it nice and cold which I was sure would help with all the bruises she picked up knocking against the walls as she dropped.